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This looks awesome and like something that would be right uo my alley 😀
 
Every time I open one of Kippington's threads I know there will be a lot of stuff to learn from it. This one is awesome too and so is the knife.
 
Thanks everyone!
Drosophil, I feel there are some basic things in knife making that never get explained well enough. I hope to share them with you girls and guys as I learn them. :)
I did a post on the basics of asymmetry (because I thought was pretty straight forward), and I'd love to do a similar post on either heat-treatment of carbon steel, or perhaps the related topic of mechanical properties we want in our knives. But it's so hard to find the time to sit down and write it up...

This knife has been finished and she's ready to ship! I'm in talks with Labor of Love to see if we can get her a new handle from a professional maker, but for now this is how she looks:

7AVzZpr.jpg


She has a basic mirror polish. Doing this is truly an exercise in diminishing returns. I could've spent another 2 hours getting it perfect, but at this stage you already notice smudged fingerprints on it every time it gets touched!
It was much easier to take pictures of this knife before she began to reflect things!

mvMCw4a.jpg


Surprisingly, one of the hardest things to get right during the whole knife making process is the flat of the knife. It's something that starts in the hand forging of the steel, then gets 'zeroed in' at every step of the way till the end sharpening where (hopefully) it ends up as it should!
I personally hate completely flat areas on my gyutos. On this knife I have tried to have the smallest curve from the heel to the belly - hardly noticeable to the naked eye, but very noticeable while using it in a rocking motion. True flat spots end up with a clunking stop near the end of the cutting motion... very uncomfortable on the wrist in my opinion. Hopefully I got this as close to flat as possible without creating the 'clunk'. Also if your cutting board is slightly warped, a dead flat spot on a knife will never hit a dip in the board. This subtlety is very easy to mess up (as we saw in the other thread :().
In the following picture I try to show the slightly curved 150mm 'flat' using the light coming through between the knife and the board.

lXfxKjS.jpg


And finally, something that stayed on the knife from all the way back when I was hand forging it to shape:

ZSHTUrR.jpg


This is kind of the 'makers mark' as you will. I really like it and think it shows a bit of its history. I hope Labor doesn't mind!
Thanks for watching guys. Maybe I'll post one more picture if she gets some new boots, but if not, this is how she'll ship.

Time to get started on making a new passaround knife! :hungry:
 
Looks great 😀 awesome work. But tone that mirror down to just a nice medium to high grit usuable finish 😀
 
Great work there Kipp! Profile shot looks just as you intended - awesome! And all that shiny bling... not bad for a fellow that wasn't interested in polishing. :whistling:
In all honesty, viewing on a phone I really thought you had created a complex maker's mark engraving!
 
This looks great Kipp. Love the polish.

I agree with MB- current handle suits it. It looks like it's made to work.

I'm really enjoying reading your thoughts on the elements of the profile, grind and HT that contribute to performance.
 
And I agree with the others handle is cool. Looks well made. All you need to do is follow outbacktimbers on insta and pick up some nice blocks and i reckon you could easily be at that custom level you are talking about.
 
Since malex mentioned it, another down under wood source for some nice stuff at good prices is thetimberjoint.com (he also has some instagram specials). Crazy good prices on ringed gidgee and other beautiful Aussie woods. I just ordered some lace sheoak that were a great deal even though international shipping to me in the US was almost 75% of the price of the wood!
 
milkbaby said:
Since malex mentioned it, another down under wood source for some nice stuff at good prices is thetimberjoint.com (he also has some instagram specials). Crazy good prices on ringed gidgee and other beautiful Aussie woods. I just ordered some lace sheoak that were a great deal even though international shipping to me in the US was almost 75% of the price of the wood!
Click to expand...
Welcome to our world... haha.
 
With paying zero homage to actual geometry, I think the shrinking edge grind and the distal taper will cancel one another out. ???
 
I am saying that my math skills are about third grade. But, it seems that finding the median between a thin tip and shallow edge grind and a thick heel with a tall grind, would lend to becoming rather balanced. I guess I don't understand the point. Why bother with grinding such a killer distal taper in the first place?
 
Not trying to ruffle feathers, I just like a thin, thin tip, and it seems this grind leaves a bit of meat behind the shallow grind at the tip. Maybe the heavy distal taper makes the tip thin enough on it's own. Guess it's hard to judge without actually having it on a board...if you need my address...
 
NO ChoP! said:
Not trying to ruffle feathers, I just like a thin, thin tip, and it seems this grind leaves a bit of meat behind the shallow grind at the tip. Maybe the heavy distal taper makes the tip thin enough on it's own. Guess it's hard to judge without actually having it on a board...if you need my address...
Click to expand...

I'm sure Kip can quote you some measurements, but I'm sure the tip is very thin. I'm pretty sure that what you're seeing is an optical illusion from the horizontal sanding lines against the vertical grinding lines.

Edited to add: If you look at the first pic of the spine, it's clear that the tip is very thin.
 
The knife is on it's way to Labor now, so unfortunately I cant post any measurements.

But really, I love this kind conversation! We're all here to take a closer look at the pros and cons of any specific grind. I have no doubt there are negatives to the one in this thread - but once you can see the positives, they really are quite beautiful.

Take a look at two options for wide bevel gyutos against the strange Kato type grind (in the style of milkbaby's diagram), and you can see its possible to get a thinner tip with a consistent angle:

No taper - consistent bevel angle:

SP2zwR7.png


Tapered - inconsistent bevel angle:

MxIQUSW.png


Tapered - consistant bevel angle:

Hz3d1u4.png


And heck, it even follows a wide bevel to a perfect 50/50 ratio along the entirety of its length.

MTBb3Yn.jpg


But this only works if you have a spine that tapers off into nothing, which turns out to have a few advantages and disadvantages of its own.
I might get into more of that later.
 
This knife was waiting for me when I arrived home from work this evening. Haven’t used it yet but I will definitely put it to use over the next 3 days.
I’m really conflicted as to how I should describe my initial impressions. Part of me wants to downplay how great this knife appears ootb in all the areas that matter. But also I want to rave about this guy.
Initially I was thinking US pass around for this blade but now that seems hard to fathom as the grind really is quite thin and frankly I don’t think I’ll be in the mood to be without it(sorry kippington). No chop, if you’re still curious about this knife PM me.
 
Sounds great so far, the knife looked slick in pics for sure.
labor of love said:
This knife was waiting for me when I arrived home from work this evening. Haven’t used it yet but I will definitely put it to use over the next 3 days because I’m working 3 doubles in a row.
I’m really conflicted as to how I should describe my initial impressions. Part of me wants to downplay how great this knife appears ootb in all the areas that matter and the other part of me doesn’t want to hype kippingtons work only so I can keep this guy all to myself for future work.
Initially I was thinking US pass around for this blade but now that seems hard to fathom as the grind really is quite thin and quite frankly I don’t think I’ll be in the mood to be without it(sorry kippington). No chop, if you’re still curious about this knife PM me.
Click to expand...
 
The Kato grind always makes me think of a filing jig. Imagine a filing jig with a not too long file. If the knife is clamped in only once, you get the steepest angle and the smallest bevel in the middle. Closer to the ends of the knife the file has a longer stroke and the bevel angle gets smaller, bevel grows wider. You can get the same effect grinding on a wheel as well if you keep the knife clamped in the middle and then connected to a pivot some distance away. It seems more a shape that arises out of practicality rather than being some optimum for whatever.
 
I believe you're referring to a common misconception about filing/sharpening jigs.
This statement is incorrect:

merlijny2k said:
Imagine a filing jig with a not too long file. If the knife is clamped in only once, you get the steepest angle and the smallest bevel in the middle. Closer to the ends of the knife the file has a longer stroke and the bevel angle gets smaller, bevel grows wider.
Click to expand...

If you are talking about the increasing distance between the pivot and the file/bevel contact point, the angle stays consistent regardless of that length.
The belly of the knife will cause a change in angle, but if you are working on the flat of the knife there won't be a steeper angle or smaller bevel in the middle. It's just a little trick that your mind is playing on you. :)

Regardless, neither myself nor Kato use this kind of jig.

labor of love said:
Initially I was thinking US pass around for this blade but now that seems hard to fathom as the grind really is quite thin and frankly I don’t think I’ll be in the mood to be without it(sorry kippington).
Click to expand...

Thats all good, I totally understand why you wouldn't want anyone to touch a knife that's thin behind the edge. So many things can go wrong!
Looking forward to your thoughts!
 
Kippington said:
I believe you're referring to a common misconception about filing/sharpening jigs.
This statement is incorrect:



If you are talking about the increasing distance between the pivot and the file/bevel contact point, the angle stays consistent regardless of that length.
The belly of the knife will cause a change in angle, but if you are working on the flat of the knife there won't be a steeper angle or smaller bevel in the middle. It's just a little trick that your mind is playing on you. :)

Regardless, neither myself nor Kato use this kind of jig.



Thats all good, I totally understand why you wouldn't want anyone to touch a knife that's thin behind the edge. So many things can go wrong!
Looking forward to your thoughts!
Click to expand...

Hmm if it's a mind trick i got to make some time to finish building that jig, do some CAD hours and figure out how i got this tricked.
 
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